The Latest

Celebrity watch: Matthew McConaughey, James Franco and more

DISCLAIMER: In no way are we trying to invade anyone’s privacy, but it’s fun to hear about the great places celebrities are visiting while they’re hanging out in New Orleans. We’re appreciative of the people who are way more famous than we’ll ever be for enjoying our city and state, spending their money, and sometimes even contributing to our rebuilding and recovery efforts. That said ...

Matthew McConaughey spent a lovely Mother’s Day sitting outside of Sucre with his fiance’ Camila Alves, their son Levi, and the rest of their family. McConaughey was in town to team up with fellow Texan Drew Brees and their friend Kenny Chesney for the 3rd annual Amazing Race, a fundraiser that supported both the Brees Dream Foundation and McConaughey’s Just Keep Livin Foundation. Chesney performed to a packed crowd at the House of Blues Sunday night to close out the weekend of events.

COURTESY SUCRE

As previously mentioned, James Franco is in town filming the Seth Rogen-directed film The End of the World. And though he wasn’t able to make it to Jazz Fest this year, Franco is enjoying himself. He wrote a blog post on the Huffington Post about his experiences in New Orleans to date, which included going on a ghost tour in the Quarter and truly believing he’d been visited by a ghost the last time he was here. Franco described the city as “an amusement park where you can get killed,” which I thought was pretty accurate. Even though he misspelled “Chartres” Street (an easy newcomer mistake), where he said he’s staying, it’s great that he’s spreading the word to the rest of America about how fun the city is.

While getting drinks at Bouligny Tavern on Magazine Street Friday night my friends and I ran into Kristen Schaal, best known for her work on The Daily Show and for her new role on 30 Rock, playing Hazel, the creepy new NBC page trying to take over Kenneth’s job (and sporting a major girl crush on Liz Lemon). While visiting the city, Schaal also participated in the New Orleans Ladies Arm Wrestling organization’s “Matriarchal Mayhem Maytime Brawl” Saturday night. How did I not know this was going on sooner?! The actress got up on stage at the Howlin’ Wolf and participated in a faux (maybe??) engagement/wedding ceremony with her boyfriend prior to throwing down with her arm wrestling opponent.

There’s clearly a lot going on in New Orleans, and a lot of awesome people living it up just like the locals do. If you have any stories to share, email hollie.woodsouth@gmail.com or follow @HollieWoodsouth on Twitter!